New Living Translation

New American Standard Bible 1995

1One day when Isaac was old and turning blind, he called for Esau, his older son, and said, “My son.” “Yes, Father?” Esau replied.

1Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, "My son." And he said to him, "Here I am."

2“I am an old man now,” Isaac said, “and I don’t know when I may die.

2Isaac said, "Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.

3Take your bow and a quiver full of arrows, and go out into the open country to hunt some wild game for me.

3"Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me;

4Prepare my favorite dish, and bring it here for me to eat. Then I will pronounce the blessing that belongs to you, my firstborn son, before I die.”

4and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die."

5But Rebekah overheard what Isaac had said to his son Esau. So when Esau left to hunt for the wild game,

5Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home,

6she said to her son Jacob, “Listen. I overheard your father say to Esau,

6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying,

7‘Bring me some wild game and prepare me a delicious meal. Then I will bless you in the LORD’s presence before I die.’

7Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.'

8Now, my son, listen to me. Do exactly as I tell you.

8"Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you.

9Go out to the flocks, and bring me two fine young goats. I’ll use them to prepare your father’s favorite dish.

9"Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves.

10Then take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless you before he dies.”

10"Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death."

11“But look,” Jacob replied to Rebekah, “my brother, Esau, is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth.

11Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, "Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.

12What if my father touches me? He’ll see that I’m trying to trick him, and then he’ll curse me instead of blessing me.”

12"Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing."

13But his mother replied, “Then let the curse fall on me, my son! Just do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats for me!”

13But his mother said to him, "Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me."

14So Jacob went out and got the young goats for his mother. Rebekah took them and prepared a delicious meal, just the way Isaac liked it.

14So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved.

15Then she took Esau’s favorite clothes, which were there in the house, and gave them to her younger son, Jacob.

15Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

16She covered his arms and the smooth part of his neck with the skin of the young goats.

16And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

17Then she gave Jacob the delicious meal, including freshly baked bread.

17She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob.

18So Jacob took the food to his father. “My father?” he said. “Yes, my son,” Isaac answered. “Who are you—Esau or Jacob?”

18Then he came to his father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"

19Jacob replied, “It’s Esau, your firstborn son. I’ve done as you told me. Here is the wild game. Now sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing.”

19Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me."

20Isaac asked, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?” “The LORD your God put it in my path!” Jacob replied.

20Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because the LORD your God caused it to happen to me."

21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer so I can touch you and make sure that you really are Esau.”

21Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not."

22So Jacob went closer to his father, and Isaac touched him. “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s,” Isaac said.

22So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."

23But he did not recognize Jacob, because Jacob’s hands felt hairy just like Esau’s. So Isaac prepared to bless Jacob.

23He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.

24“But are you really my son Esau?” he asked. “Yes, I am,” Jacob replied.

24And he said, "Are you really my son Esau?" And he said, "I am."

25Then Isaac said, “Now, my son, bring me the wild game. Let me eat it, and then I will give you my blessing.” So Jacob took the food to his father, and Isaac ate it. He also drank the wine that Jacob served him.

25So he said, "Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son's game, that I may bless you." And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.

26Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come a little closer and kiss me, my son.”

26Then his father Isaac said to him, "Please come close and kiss me, my son."

27So Jacob went over and kissed him. And when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced, and he blessed his son. He said, “Ah! The smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors, which the LORD has blessed!

27So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, "See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed;

28“From the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, may God always give you abundant harvests of grain and bountiful new wine.

28Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine;

29May many nations become your servants, and may they bow down to you. May you be the master over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. All who curse you will be cursed, and all who bless you will be blessed.”

29May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you."

30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and almost before Jacob had left his father, Esau returned from his hunt.

30Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

31Esau prepared a delicious meal and brought it to his father. Then he said, “Sit up, my father, and eat my wild game so you can give me your blessing.”

31Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, "Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me."

32But Isaac asked him, “Who are you?” Esau replied, “It’s your son, your firstborn son, Esau.”

32Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" And he said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."

33Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably and said, “Then who just served me wild game? I have already eaten it, and I blessed him just before you came. And yes, that blessing must stand!”

33Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed."

34When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry. “Oh my father, what about me? Bless me, too!” he begged.

34When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!"

35But Isaac said, “Your brother was here, and he tricked me. He has taken away your blessing.”

35And he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing."

36Esau exclaimed, “No wonder his name is Jacob, for now he has cheated me twice. First he took my rights as the firstborn, and now he has stolen my blessing. Oh, haven’t you saved even one blessing for me?”

36Then he said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." And he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?"

37Isaac said to Esau, “I have made Jacob your master and have declared that all his brothers will be his servants. I have guaranteed him an abundance of grain and wine—what is left for me to give you, my son?”

37But Isaac replied to Esau, "Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?"

38Esau pleaded, “But do you have only one blessing? Oh my father, bless me, too!” Then Esau broke down and wept.

38Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." So Esau lifted his voice and wept.

39Finally, his father, Isaac, said to him, “You will live away from the richness of the earth, and away from the dew of the heaven above.

39Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, "Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above.

40You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you decide to break free, you will shake his yoke from your neck.” Jacob Flees to Paddan-Aram

40"By your sword you shall live, And your brother you shall serve; But it shall come about when you become restless, That you will break his yoke from your neck."

41From that time on, Esau hated Jacob because their father had given Jacob the blessing. And Esau began to scheme: “I will soon be mourning my father’s death. Then I will kill my brother, Jacob.”

41So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

42But Rebekah heard about Esau’s plans. So she sent for Jacob and told him, “Listen, Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you.

42Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, "Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you.

43So listen carefully, my son. Get ready and flee to my brother, Laban, in Haran.

43"Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban!

44Stay there with him until your brother cools off.

44"Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury subsides,

45When he calms down and forgets what you have done to him, I will send for you to come back. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”

45until your brother's anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?"

46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick and tired of these local Hittite women! I would rather die than see Jacob marry one of them.”

46Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?"

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org